Marlins take series lead over New York

MIAMI -- Now look who's the team to beat in this World Series.\nCool, confident and even a little bit cocky, the Florida Marlins are just one win from another championship, beating the banged-up and bumbling New York Yankees 6-4 in Game 5 Thursday night.\nBrad Penny pumped his fist like crazy when he escaped his final threat and Alex Gonzalez struck again with his Hall of Fame-bound bat as the Marlins seized a 3-2 lead with a surprisingly easy victory.\nDown 6-1, the Yankees did not give up. But when Bernie Williams' bid for a tying two-run homer in the ninth was caught a few feet from the wall, their best chance was gone.\nThe sellout crowd of 65,975 at Pro Player Stadium pulsated all evening as Florida moved to the brink of an amazing upset. One man paid tribute in his own way -- in the late innings, he ran across the entire outfield wearing only a Marlins cap.\nYankees owner George Steinbrenner could merely shake his head after seeing this sudden reversal of fortune. The Boss' club looked like a shell of itself, hardly championship caliber.\nSlumping Alfonso Soriano was benched, Jason Giambi was hurt and starter David Wells left after one inning with an injury, leaving a lineup more suited to play Tampa Bay in June than Florida in October. Giambi hit a home run in the ninth as a pinch hitter to make it 6-3.\nEarlier this week, after Mike Mussina sent the Yankees to their second straight 6-1 win in Game 3, it looked as if they might simply overwhelm the Marlins and take the title in Miami. At least, it might have appeared that way to anyone who had never seen Florida.\nNot anymore.\nStill, the Marlins' path to their second title in seven years is a treacherous one that leads right through Yankee Stadium.\nGame 2 winner Andy Pettitte tries to save New York's season when he starts Game 6 Saturday night. Ever cautious, and ready to make anyone available to win, Marlins manager Jack McKeon did not announce his starter in advance.\nThis will mark the first time since 1981 that the Yankees faced elimination at home in the World Series. That year, the Los Angeles Dodgers finished them off in Game 6.\nPenny mowed down the Yankees for seven innings, giving up one earned run to earn his second win of the Series. He also took the opener, an impressive week for a guy who went 14-10 this year and lost his rotation spot in the NLCS after a bad outing.\nBothered by an apparent blister, Penny gave up an RBI single to Derek Jeter in the seventh. Down 6-2, New York went on to load the bases with two outs before Williams -- baseball's career postseason leaders in homers and RBIs -- hit a routine fly that got Penny celebrating.\nDontrelle Willis pitched a scoreless eighth and reliever Braden Looper gave up Giambi's pinch-hit homer in the ninth. The Yankees never give up, and Jeter followed with a single for his third hit.\nAfter Enrique Wilson's RBI double, Ugueth Urbina took over and faced the tying run. A night after giving up pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra's tying, two-run triple with two outs in the ninth, Urbina got Williams on the long fly ball and Hideki Matsui on a grounder to first for his second save.\nPenny also contributed at the plate. His two-run single made it 3-1 in the third, an inning keyed by Gonzalez's RBI double. Gonzalez was the star in Game 4 with a 12th-inning homer for a 4-3 victory.\nWells was forced to leave after the first inning, the victim of back spasms. Jose Contreras relieved and took the loss with three shaky innings.\nNew York's defense didn't help a lot, either. Wilson, subbing for Soriano, threw away a ball in a rundown that set up Mike Lowell's two-run single in the fifth for a 6-1 lead.\nGiambi was pulled from the starting lineup because of a bad left knee and replaced by Nick Johnson.\nWells, who joked about his poor conditioning a day earlier, walked off the mound with a pained expression after the first inning. When David Dellucci pinch hit for Wells in the second, it was clear this was serious and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman left his seat in the stands and scooted up an aisle.\nContreras had already been heating up when he came in to replace Wells, and the Cuban right-hander went right to work. Since he wasn't suddenly summoned with no time to prepare, Contreras was not entitled to any extra warmup pitches, according to baseball's Rule 8.03.\nContreras retired his first two batters before issuing two walks and Gonzalez hit a drive that bounced over the wall in right-center field for an RBI double.\nThat brought up Penny, and the big pitcher with a .143 career average reached out and hit a shot past Wilson for a two-run single and a 3-1 lead.\nJuan Pierre continued to cause problems for the Yankees with an RBI double in the fourth. Derrek Lee led off with a single and scored his second run of the game after moving up on Penny's sacrifice.\nJeter quickly got into the swing, leading off the game with a single. Wilson followed with a bunt single that Lee charged from first base and threw away for an error, letting Jeter reach third. Williams made it 1-0 with a sacrifice fly.